Friday, June 26, 2009

Chuck has ripped and scanned the single song that perhaps bestsums up Brisbane and that late 70's to late 80's time here.Its a time that I spent (or misspent) my youth within and I havealways related to this song and its vibe. It rekindles memoriesand transports me back.I was there at that legendary Clash concert at Cloudland, I was17 and it was my first concert. I grew up listening to therevolutionary radio station 4ZzZ the station that was the drivingforce behind so much of this Brisbane subculture and its fittingthat the anthem of this time and place was born in its studios.The song later lent its name to a book"Pig City - from the Saints to Savage Garden"and to the 2006 Music Festival "Pig City"Which was an 8 hour showcase of Brisbane's finestincluding the original Saints first reformation gig for some30 years and reformations of the Apartments, Riptides,Ups and Downs, The Pineapples From The Dawn Of Timeand for the first time ever The Parameters.As well as many others read about it here

Thanks Chuck for all your work.Here's a couple of comments Chuck has on all things Pig City.

Here is an excellent piece on this subject by Andrew Stafford

that was writen for the Courier Mail June 9th 2007:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/music/

pig-city-right-at-home/story-e6freqgx-1111113698987

Andrew also wrote the definitive book on the Brissy

music scene also called Pig City.

This song started as a cart at triple z for years b4 fatsgot his shit together to make a b-sideand press it for vinyl..

You don't see many of the covers for this single sadly... it was quite an elaborate fold out poster/ cover.Love the Terry Lewis moles n gangsters set up :) gotta love a police commissioner who doesn't give afuk about the law :).. not to mention big fat Russ and Joh getting a free ride on the back of the blacks... fuk - Queensland.. the place to be ...

The song's author is artist and activist Tony Kneipp, whorecorded Pig City in late 1983 with his band theParameters.The story of the song's recording is asremarkable as the tune itself.Kneipp remembers the title coming from the Clash's legendaryFebruary 1982 gig at Cloudland, shortly before the iconicvenue's demolition at the hands of the Deen Brothers."There was a very heavy police presence," he says."A whole contingent of police went past,I honestly can't remember if I said it myself,or heard someone say it, but that's when it first popped out."

From there, the song flowed – a deadly piece of political invectivethat blew the whistle on police and political corruption inQueensland years before the extent of the rot was uncovered byCommissioner ,Tony Fitzgerald. Corruption in Queensland,as Kneipp says, was "an open secret" at the time."I think that's something that needs to be remembered aboutrumors,"he says. "They can be totally inaccurate but they canalso be totally accurate, and they tend to be a mixture of the two.And I did try to sift through that, and exercise some judgment."So I wrote the song and I liked it. I thought,'This is pretty good, I should do something with this.' "

Thus the Parameters was formed, with its sole aim to record PigCityin time for the 1983 state election which the National Party,led by Joh Bjelke-Petersen, eventually won in its own right.The Parameters was the band that never was.The members (Kneipp on rhythm, slide guitar and saxophone;Ian Graham on lead guitar and bass and Steven Pritchard ondrums)never even played in the same room together, let alone a gig.Each part of the song was overdubbed, layer by layer,over two weeks at 4ZZZ's studios at the University of Queensland.

The quality was rough, but with its honking saxophone,scabrous lyrics and chorus of friends chanting the words Pig City!at the end of each line, it was also unforgettable.The song took off on 4ZZZ, becoming a fixture in the station'sannual Hot 100, and it was that immediate success whichprompted Kneipp to write another song, Material Possession,which became the B-side of the single eventually released in 1984.

"I was astonished by its longevity," Kneipp says."It's tremendous to do something which gets that recognition,but unfortunately we spent far too much time building the studioand far too little time rehearsing."

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comments:

Hey Bob, you should get a last.fm profile. It's a website that tallies the songs you listen to and makes your listening habits into graphs. It's also good for reccomending music that you may not know or have forgotten.

i went to the clash cloudland gig too Bob - you remember the opening act?? wasn't it scrap metal - or were they known as ducks in formation by that time?? poor alex got so gobbed on by the crowd - gross! but so did saint joe except he pulled the crowd back into line by staging a walk off - i remember there were cops and dogs there at the start of the nite - you always could see plain clothed cops in amongst the crowd at cloudland gigs - they were the big boofy blokes in boot cut jeans, white t- shirts, white sneekers, usually moustached, spending a lot of time sniffing the air, looking at anyone except the band - hahaha - pig city indeed - thats brisbane's theme song for sure =P

It was still Scrap Metal, that was a gig to remember. I was right up the front with my girl friend of the time, when the band came on. Starting with Londons Calling and by the end of the song I was 30 meters back, I'm afraid I couldn't hold my ground. Cops everywhere and bouncers.

Hi Chuck and Bob. This is very old news I realise, but I would appreciate it if you could add my name to the article that's been reprinted above. I wrote it for the Courier-Mail June 9 2007: http://www.couriermail.com.au/entertainment/music/pig-city-right-at-home/story-e6freqgx-1111113698987

I love your site but would appreciate correction of this minor but important (to me) oversight!

That Striped Sunlight Sound.

Coming to you from Brisbanethe home of the striped sunlightsound, this is a my little placein cyberspace to share themusic of Australiawhich may have passed you by.Mostly rare and out of printalbums from artists that nevermade it into the mainstreamand my recollections concerningthem. If you like somethingplease leave a message in thecomments, if you don't,maybe you'd rather not seeyour music here, or maybe myrecollections are wrong,please leave a message too.If you find any links no longer workplease let me know and I'll fix itI'm on myspace you can find me at myspace.com/stripedsunlightsoundand if you preferfacebook.com/people/Bob